00:00Have you ever walked away from everything you loved, certain you would never be welcomed home
00:04again? Then listen carefully to this story. Jesus said, A certain man had two sons, and a house full
00:10of warmth, work, and bread enough for everyone. One day the younger son came to his father and
00:15said, Father, give me now the share that falleth to me. The father said nothing in anger. He quietly
00:22divided his substance, giving each son his share, and watched his youngest walk away. Not many days
00:28after, the young man gathered everything together and left for a far country, chasing freedom and
00:33a life without rules. There he wasted his substance, living riotously, spending gold on feasts and
00:39friends until his purse grew light and the laughter faded. And after he had spent all, a mighty famine
00:45came upon that country, and he began to be in want. The friends who had shared his table were gone,
00:50and no one in that strange land offered him help at all. So he went and cleaved to a citizen
00:55of that
00:55country, begging for any work that would keep him alive. The man sent him into his fields to feed
01:00swine, the lowest work a Jewish son could ever do in shame. Hungry and alone, he would fain have
01:06filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat, but no man gave unto him. Then, in the dust
01:12among the
01:12pigs, he returned to himself, and his heart finally woke up to the truth he had forgotten.
01:17How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, he whispered, while I perish with
01:22hunger here in this far country. I will arise, he said, and I will go to my father, no matter
01:27how far
01:28the road may be. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, he rehearsed, I am not worthy
01:34to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants, he prayed, if only I may eat
01:39bread in my
01:39father's house. And rising up, he came to his father, walking the long road home with empty hands and a
01:45broken heart. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with deep
01:50compassion for him. The old man did not wait. He ran to his son, fell upon his neck, and kissed
01:56him again and again. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, the son cried, I am not
02:02worthy to be called thy son. But the father turned to his servants and said, bring forth quickly the
02:07first robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, he commanded,
02:12for my son
02:13is home at last. Bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, he cried, and let us eat and make
02:18merry
02:18together tonight in joy. Because this my son was dead, and has come to life again, was lost and
02:24is found, the father proclaimed. Meanwhile the elder son was in the field, and as he came near
02:29the house, he heard music and dancing. He called a servant and asked what these things meant, and the
02:34servant told him his brother had come home, and he was angry, and would not go in, though his brother
02:39was alive and his father was rejoicing inside. His father therefore came out and began to entreat
02:44him, pleading with the son who had never left his side. Behold, for so many years I served thee,
02:49the elder son cried, yet thou never gave me a kid for my friends. Son, thou art always with me,
02:55and all I have is thine, he said, for thy brother was lost and is found.
